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Lennon 74′ by Russell Marshall released on John Lennon’s birthday (and we host a bed-in)

9th-17th October 2015

In honour of John Lennons 75th birthday, Beautiful Crime artist and master of screen-printing, Russell Marshall has produced a limited edition screen print endorsed by Yoko Ono Lennon and photographer, Bob Gruen. The print will be released on what would have been Lennon’s 75th birthday on 9th October, both online at the Beautiful Crime gallery, which we are turning in to Suite 1742 of the famous Montreal Hotel for a week-long bed-in.

Beautiful Crime invite Beatle fans and Lennon lovers alike to celebrate the life of the iconic musician by taking their own selfies in the bed, with a framed Lennon ’74 as the backdrop.

The print: Through his art, Russell Marshall celebrates one of music and culture’s most highly regarded icons. Via the delicate art of Silkscreen printing, particularly at such a large size, Marshall brings the famous image of Lennon to the art world, in a fantastic colourway of blue on pearl. As much a research process as it is an artistic printing process, Marshall sought and agreed permission to use the image from both the legendary photographer who took the image in 1969, Bob Gruen and Yoko Ono Lennon via the John Lennon Foundation.

Screen-printing is a highly advanced art technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer coloured ink onto a substrate. The technique requires absolute intricacy and an eye for detail, practiced by the likes of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Bob Ryan.

The bed-in at Beautiful Crime:

We couldn’t resist the opportunity to turn our gallery space in to a Yoko and Lennon-style hotel room – the perfect setting to see the Lennon ’74 screen print, framed and in its larger-than-life glory. Yoko Ono and John Lennon famously staged a ‘Bed In for Peace’ both in Amsterdam and at the Montreal Hotel, calling all countries to make peace. During April 1969, they sent acorns to the heads of states in various countries around the world in hopes they would plant them as a symbol of peace.

The support, endorsement and permission of both Bob Gruen and Yoko Ono, who have reserved editions 1 and 2 out of 25, adds a distinction to the print and its reproduction in Russell’s signature silk-screen style.

Artist Russell Marshall said:

Im delighted to have been able to work with such an amazing piece of rock n roll history and my thanks go to Bob Gruen and Yoko Ono Lennon for allowing me to do so. There are millions of published rock n roll photographs and thousands more are taken every year… but there is maybe a handful of iconic images that define a place, a time, a sound – one moment in music history: Bob Gruens rooftop Lennon image is right up there at the top.